Many job boards today are challenged by the prospect of integrating and keeping up with new technologies. Things change so quickly, and the next generation of job candidates won’t even know what to do with old tech. Recruiters and employers go where the candidates are, and candidates already have enough difficulty finding jobs and connecting with employers.
So, here are 5 tips to give your job board a tune-up:
1) Give Your SEO a Check-Up
Yes, that dreaded three-letter acronym that most of people only ever half-understand. To keep growing your user-base and attract the kind of candidates your customers are looking for, those job seekers need to actually find you! The good news is there are a lot of great resources out there to help you. Here are a few to get you started:
- SEO Basics: 8 Essentials When Optimizing Your Site via SearchEngineWatch.com
- A Simple Step by Step Guide to SEO via blog.KISSmetrics.com
- SEO Site Checkup
2) Re-Evaluate Your Design
How you approach your job board’s design may depend on its audience. But no matter who your users and customers are, they’ll respond better to intuitive navigation on a website that’s easy on the eyes. Clutter has been proven to impair a person’s ability to process information, and the same applies to visual clutter on a website. Just like a good business pitch is one your Grandma understands, a well-designed site is one baby boomers and millennials alike can use without any trouble (just ask Facebook).
3) Be Mobile-Ready
The time has come, folks. According to GlassDoor.com’s survey, 9 out of 10 job seekers use their mobile devices in their job search. Recruiters and employers know they need to be reaching candidates on mobile, too. Okay, so you understand the value of a mobile-ready job board, but how to go about it? Do you go for a separate “m.” mobile site or a mobile-responsive design? Here’s a great case study in choosing between the two, and thebyte9.com has outlined 7 Business Advantages of Responsive Web Design.
4) Embrace the Social Age
We’re now living in the Social Age, which has brought big changes (and big opportunities) to business, marketing, customer service–and recruiting. A job board can engage its customers and users through sharing their jobs and content through social media. The key word is ENGAGE: the magic formula still amounts to human interaction and creating value for those, uh, humans. =)
5) Focus on the Candidate
Sure, you have to spend a lot of time thinking about your customers, the employers and recruiters. But you can’t ignore the job seeker in the process, or you risk harming your customers by creating a bad experience for their candidates. As with embracing the Social Age, engaging your audience of job seekers means providing something of value for the candidate, because when they keep coming back to you, so will your customers.
Still need some help? Connect with Careerleaf to learn more about our solutions for you.